Reparations
by Wild Force Ranger
Summary: Explanations and apologies in the wake of Chris' notdying. Powers.


Author's note: Well, I don't really have anything to say!

Reparations

Kaia was sitting on the wall just outside the Manor when Piper pulled up.

Kaia hadn't come near them for some time now, though she was in sporadic contact with Chris and even more sporadic with Leo. She hadn't come near the Manor since Baby Chris had been born.

"Hey, Kaia." Piper said, mildly surprised to see her. "Something wrong?"

"No, Piper. Was looking for Chris, but…" she gestured vaguely towards the house. "He doesn't seem to be here."

"No. He doesn't stay around much anymore." Pier told her, coming around the car and unfastening Wyatt's car seat. "I think he's kind of uncomfortable."

"Can't blame him for that." Kaia hopped down off the wall, coming to stand beside Piper and offering quietly to hold Wyatt for her.

"Thanks." Piper said slowly, carefully handing over her older son and reaching back into the car.

"Do you, Piper?" Kaia asked, balancing Wyatt easily on her hip.

"Do I what?"

Kaia waited until she had locked the car and was heading towards the house. "Blame him."

"I hadn't thought about it." Piper told her, juggling Baby Chris's carrier awkwardly to try and reach her keys.

"Here." Kaia lifted the carrier, taking the weight so Piper could get at her keys more easily.

"He's heavy." Piper warned automatically. Kaia smiled faintly. "Oh? Something funny?"

"Just that I could juggle all three of you if I wanted. Chris is not heavy by comparison."

"Uh-huh." Piper dropped her keys and took the weight of the carrier back, taking him into the sitting room. Kaia followed, lowering Wyatt to the couch and hunkering beside him.

"Chris is still your Whitelighter, yes?" Kaia asked after a minute.

"Uh-huh."

"And it doesn't bother you that he doesn't stay around, Piper?"

"Most witches don't have a live-in Whitelighter, you know."

"Not really…does it bother you?"

"You are not going to let this drop, are you." Piper asked resignedly.

"Not even a little bit, no." Kaia said cheerfully. "Does it bother you?"

"No. It bothers me that he never told me who he was."

"It's kind of hard on him." Kaia said sympathetically.

"I know, I get that, but he really…" Piper shook her head. "It's just…it's kind of weird for everyone, you know?"

"Sure." Kaia grinned, turning back to look at Wyatt as he attempted to climb down from the couch. "Ah, _buachailin, _we don't do that when _a mhathair _is watching, _thigim?" _

"I have no idea what you just said." Piper complained.

"Sort of the point, Piper." Kaia told her. "Huh, Wyatt? Are we trying to confuse _dho mhathair?"_

"Stop doing that!" Piper said, but she was smiling. "You still looking for Chris?"

"Whenever you're ready. I'd call him myself, but I don't think it'd work."

"Chris!" Piper looked upwards out of habit as she called, and Kaia neatly scooped Wyatt up again.

"This child's active, isn't he?" She didn't sound particularly upset, so Piper didn't bother to take him back.

"You have cousins, don't you?" Piper asked.

"Yes, but Cole is very well behaved, Sara's generally afraid of me and na Trí are too little to move around much."

"Na Trí?" Piper repeated. "I'm having a Leprechaun flashback."

"Leprechauns." Kaia scoffed. "Know nothing bas…" She cut herself off, glancing guiltily at the children. "Sorry, Piper."

"I'm going to ignore that in favour of asking about na Trí again. Chris!"

"It just means the three. Danny and Kendall had triplets, and saying na Trí is so much quicker than trying to remember all their names."

"Three?" Piper repeated. "Three's a good number."

"Is it?" Kaia asked vaguely. "Chris doesn't seem to be coming."

Something jingled on the edge of their hearing, and she glanced up, catching Piper's eye. "He'll be here, but he can't come yet." Piper translated with an ease born of much practise.

"May I wait, then?"

"Sure. These guys are going to bed now, though."

"May I help, Piper?"

"If you want."

* * *

It was almost an hour later when Chris finally arrived. Kaia was sitting in the sunroom with her back to the door.

"Hi." Chris said. She jumped, turning to face him, and for just a second her eyes looked different.

"Hey. Chris. You startled me."

"You were looking for me." Chris reminded her.

"Yes. I was." She unfolded from the chair. "Are you busy?"

"Right now?" At her nod, he asked, "Why?"

"I want you to come meet some people."

"Your brother?"

Kaia frowned. "My brother?"

"Connor called him that time. To tell him you were here."

"Oh…yes, him among others. Can you come, Chris?"

Chris glanced towards the kitchen. "I'm going!"

"Knock yourself out!" Piper's voice replied.

"Bye, Piper!" Kaia called.

"Are you going?" Piper came into the room. She was carrying her younger son on her hip.

"Yeah." Kaia glanced at Chris. "OK?"

"Yeah. Let's go." He held out a hand, and she took it easily, letting him orb them away.

* * *

They reappeared on a quiet street, surrounded by houses; Kaia pulled away from Chris and wrapped her arms around the nearest tree, ducking her head.

"Hey. You OK?" Chris asked quickly, leaning forward.

"Mmm…" she waved him off. "Orbing makes me queasy. Don't worry about it."

"Why didn't you say something?"

"You needed to get out of that house, Chris, not hear excuses from me."

He turned away. "I don't know what you mean."

"Sure you do." she said cheerfully. "You're just pretending you don't." She touched his arm lightly, and when he half-turned she gestured towards one of the houses. "That's my house. Come on."

"Where are we?" Chris asked, following her up to the door where she began fiddling with the lock.

"Ireland."

"Your brother lives in Ireland?"

"No, the house is empty at the—damn it!—moment. I just need to pick something up."

"What are you doing?"

She looked over her shoulder at him. "Trying to break in, Chris."

"Why? It's your house."

"Yes, but my keys are…well, I don't use keys, and Merrick has my spare—or, my main—so…good afternoon, Mrs. O'Rourke!"

Chris turned to see a middle aged woman glaring suspiciously at them from a house across the road. He smiled politely and, over his shoulder, asked, "Is it supposed to take this long?"

"No, the house is supposed to recognise me and let me in. It's not doing it, for some reason."

"The house recognises you." Chris said flatly.

"More or less. It's complic…there we go!"

The door swung open, and she gestured Chris in, smiling proudly. "You just hang around, I need to go get…" Trailing off, she headed up the stairs.

Looking around, Chris saw some photos on a wall and studied them. Kaia wasn't in any of them, though there was a girl who looked vaguely similar to her; he didn't recognise anyone else.

"Are you in these?" he asked when she came back down.

"Mmph. There." She pointed to the girl.

"Really?"

"Yeah. That's how the others know me, Chris." She studied the pictures for a minute.

"Connor's not in them." Chris commented.

"Connor…" she laughed softly, turning away. "He doesn't much like having his picture taken, and if he did, he wouldn't let me hang it there."

"Why not?"

"Because," she headed into the kitchen as she spoke, "that's my family up there, Chris. And Connor doesn't see them as his family."

"Are they?"

She glanced back at him. "If he let them, they would be."

Chris frowned, suddenly not sure they were still talking about Connor, and hurried to change the subject. "Find what you needed?"

"Yeah." She pulled at a bag hanging over one shoulder. "Got it here. You ready?"

Chris shrugged. "Yeah. You going to orb?"

"We're going back to California. It's quicker than walking."

"Will you be OK?" he insisted.

"Yeah. Come on." She held out her hand, and he took it.

* * *

"That just never gets any better."

Chris shrugged, leaning against the tree beside her. "Your call."

"You shrug an awful lot, Chris." she murmured.

Chris didn't bother answering, and a moment later she pushed away from the tree and headed across the lawn to the house.

"So who lives here?" Chris asked, falling into step beside her.

"Depends." she said absently. "Merrick and Shayla all the time, and some of the others on and off. I used to, sometimes."

"Not anymore?"

The door opened on the first try, and she grinned triumphantly over her shoulder at him. "Right now I live in LA. Some of my stuff's here, though. Who's home?" She raised her voice on the last bit.

"Cousin Tara!" someone yelled, and she grimaced, directing Chris into a sitting room.

"Hey Coleen!" she responded. "Anyone else?"

"Lotsa people!"

"Stay here for a second?" she asked Chris. "Just for a second. I'll be right back."

"Kind of hard to meet people if I'm not allowed out of the room!" Chris called after her.

True to her word, however, she was back after only a minute or two. "OK. You want anything? To eat, or anything?"

"No thanks."

"Kay." She dropped to sit on the floor next to a large chair. "Sit down?"

Chris didn't bother. "I thought we were meeting people."

"We are. About…now."

The door burst open and two children tumbled in…literally, in the smaller one's case…and threw themselves on Kaia, who laughed, rocking backwards under the impact.

The older one, a boy, pulled away and looked at her. "I forgot who you said you are today, Cousin Tara."

"Kaia, short stuff." She pushed them off.

"Couthin Thar…Couthin Kaia, who ith that man?" the girl lisped.

Kaia rose to her feet, picking up the girl. "That's Chris, honey. He's my Champion."

"I thought Connor was your Champion." the boy protested.

"He is. I have two now."

"Yet to be decided." Chris muttered.

Kaia smirked at him. "Chris, this is Cole and Sara." Sara solemnly held out her hand; Chris gingerly took it. "Cole is Merrick and Shayla's son," she added to Chris, "and Sara is Cole and Alyssa's daughter. My Lion and Wolf." she said affectionately. "Now bugger off and let us talk."

"Can we have a thory?" Sara asked.

"Not right now, sweetheart. Maybe later on, OK? I brought some more books back, Cole, your mama has them."

Cole had been studying Chris curiously. Now he announced, "I like him, Cousin Kaia."

"Good. Take your cousin and go on, now."

Cole shook his head absently. "He's not the same dark as Connor."

Kaia was suddenly very focused on him. "Cole? What do you mean, that he's not as dark?"

"No." Cole said in a 'well, duh' tone. "He's different dark." He shuddered. "Bad things that haven't happened yet."

Chris startled at that, glancing at Kaia who shrugged helplessly. Frowning, he lowered himself to one knee, watching Cole warily. "Things that haven't happened yet?"

"Darkness and bad things." Cole said steadily. "Are you going to let it happen?"

"No." Chris shook his head. "I came to stop it."

"Good." Cole seemed to lose interest suddenly, catching Sara's hand and leaving the room.

"What was that?" Chris asked, slowly standing again.

"That was Cole." Kaia didn't look at him. "He's precog, on and off, and he…sometimes he knows things."

"On and off?" Chris repeated. "Premonitions don't work that way."

"It's not premonitions, Chris. Not the way you're used to. Sometimes he has dreams, and sometimes he just knows things, but it's not the same as Phoebe."

She crossed to an upright piano and began to finger the keys, not pressing hard enough to make any noise.

"Is he a witch?" Chris asked.

"Cole? No! No, he just…" She trailed off. "His parents had power. Not witches, either of them, but it's passed on to him." She smiled suddenly. "You get used to him."

Chris rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Are we done?"

"No. The others'll be here soon."

Chris wandered around the room, examining the ornaments, for several minutes; Kaia turned back to the piano and continued fingering the keys.

"What did he mean, he forgot who you said you were?" Chris asked finally.

"What? Oh…he forget my name, is all."

"Your name?" Chris repeated.

"I don't use Kaia with them, Chris, and I don't look like this."

"What do you look like?"

She shook her head, and for a moment he thought she was refusing to answer until he saw colour literally running out of her hair. Dark faded to dull blond, and when she lifted her head her eyes were green instead of grey, set in a face that was thinner than usual.

Chris considered her for a moment. "This is Tara?" he asked finally.

She nodded quietly, waiting for him to turn away before shifting her appearance back. "It bother you, Chris?"

"No. Should it? What does Connor see?"

Black hair faded to brighter blond, and her eyes darkened to black. "Deirbhile."

"Deirbhile." Chris repeated. "How many of those things…"

"Glamours."

"Glamours. How many can you…" he trailed off.

"I've never found a limit yet. Tara and Kaia and Deirbhile…I'm more familiar with those ones, but there are others." She blurred suddenly, and Chris blinked. When he could focus again she was older…older than him, with short black hair and eyes that were a very light blue. "When Merrick worked at Willie's I used this one to go see him. You've seen Thariin." She shrugged, blurring through different glamours. "I've been a lot of different people in my life, Chris."

"Stop." he said suddenly. She stopped, looking at him curiously. "I know you."

"I hope so." she agreed mildly. "I'd be worried at this point."

"No, I mean I know…you." He gestured to her.

Kaia looked down at herself automatically. "Really?"

Chris nodded. "You lived…will live…near the Manor. Everyone was afraid of you, you were like the neighbourhood witch."

"Bitch?" she suggested sweetly.

"That too."

"So I was keeping an eye on you." she said to herself. "Was I mean to you, Chris?"

"No, I was about the only person you weren't mean to. Anyone else came near, you'd throw…"

"Throw…" she prompted him. "What, a fit? A knife, an axe…"

"Saucepans."

She deflated. "Saucepans?"

"And other kitchen things. Skillets. You were fond of the skillet...the power skillet, i think you called it.It was just…" he shrugged, apparently lost for words.

"Did I have a name?"

"True Adele." He smiled faintly. "I should have guessed…even Wyatt was afraid of you."

"He was?"

"Or at least he wouldn't attack you, or let anyone else."

"True Adele." she mused. "Oh, I know the name. I met her a year or two back."

"Who is she?"

"Just someone I met. Not a Champion and not family." She looked back at Chris. "Wyatt protected me?"

"I guess." Chris shrugged. "No one ever tried to get rid of you, anyway."

She smiled suddenly. "I'm glad I didn't totally abandon you, then."

There was a tap at the door, and she shimmered back to Kaia before calling "Yes?"

"It's me."

"Come in, Cole!"

She was on her feet when he opened the door, and threw herself at him; Cole caught her, laughing, and she buried her face in his neck for a minute before pushing away.

"Cole, Chris Perry. Chris, Cole Evans." She was still laughing, flushed and happy, and Chris was surprised at how young it made her look.

Cole shook his hand, giving him a brief, assessing look, before turning back to Kaia. "This is a new look for you."

"Not really." She shrugged, tugging him down onto the couch. "Just to you." Looking back at Chris, she told him, "Cole is who Connor rang."

"Your brother?"

"Yeah. In all the ways that count, anyway." She grinned at Cole and announced, "Chris is my Champion."

"Is he." The assessing look was back. "What does Connor think of that?"

"He doesn't know." Kaia said sharply, something approaching a warning in her tone. "And he's not gonna until he's at least in America rather than Italy, all right?"

Cole raised his hands in surrender and glanced at Chris again. "She treat you like that?"

"No. I can orb away if she tries."

"Besides, Cole, he's a Champion." Kaia said again. Cole nodded; the phrase had caught him this time.

"Right."

"We haven't decided that yet." Chris reminded her.

"Sure we haven't. You're just here meeting total strangers and letting my cousin empath all over you for the fun, right Chris?" Kaia drawled.

Cole sat up, frowning. "Cole?"

"It's dealt with." Kaia said softly. "Let him be. Now," she rose, turning to lower the lid on the piano, "where is everyone? You'd think they were coming from Australia or something…"

Cole smiled. "Weird, that, isn't it? I'll go find out."

She glanced at Chris as Cole pulled the door closed behind him. "Some of us are coming from Australia, is why that's funny." She crossed to kneel beside his chair. "Ten minutes. I promise. Enough for you to know them."

"Why? Why is this so important for you?"

"Whether you want to be mine or not, Chris, I want to be yours. And I come with baggage." She gestured at the pictures lining the wall. "All them will want to know you. To be family."

"I have a family." Chris said sharply.

"Yeah. Now you have two." She rose again, wandering around the room. "Do you miss the future, Chris?"

Chris thought about it for a long time. "Sometimes."

Kaia turned back to look at him. "So it wasn't all bad then?"

"You know this." Chris protested.

"Nu-uh. Bits and pieces is all. Not what you don't tell me."

"Tara?" someone said from the door.

"Danny!" She threw her arms around this guy, too. "Danny, this is Chris. Chris, Danny. Is everyone here, then?"

"Yes. Are you coming?"

Kaia glanced at Chris, who shrugged. "May as…hang on…" he turned away.

"What's wrong?" Danny asked. Kaia shook her head.

"I don't know. Chris?"

"Piper. I have to go." Chris said, turning back to them.

"All right. Do you want help?"

"Don't know. She didn't…" he broke off, wincing, and glanced at Danny before looking back at Kaia. "Have to go."

"Kay. If you do want help…"

He nodded and then orbed out without a word.

Danny blinked. "Huh."

Kaia shimmered into Tara before asking, "What huh? You don't like him?"

"I don't know him, Tara." Danny protested.

"Yeah." She glanced at where Chris had been standing before turning away and linking her hand through Danny's arm. "Let's go see the others, huh?"


End file.
